THIS
CAUSE came before the Court upon the evidentiary
hearing it held on the issue of damages on June 22, 2019
(D.E. 35).[1]

Plaintiff
Valerie Vanderbilt filed this case against Boat Bottom
Express Limited Liability Company ("BBE"), a
business in Ramrod Key, Florida, and Jeffrey Peer, alleged
owner of BBE, for unpaid overtime violations, fraudulent
filing of a tax return, and breach of contract (D.E. 1).
After both Defendants defaulted, the Court granted Plaintiffs
Motion for Entry of Final Default Judgment as to liability,
and set an evidentiary hearing to allow her to prove her
unliquidated damages (D.E. 30). Defendants did not appear at
the June 22, 2019 hearing. Plaintiff called two witnesses:
(a) herself, and (b) her fiance Gregory Knippel.

Regarding
Plaintiffs claim for unpaid overtime violations against both
Defendants, the uncontroverted testimony shows that there was
a verbal contract between Ms. Vanderbilt and Jeffrey Peer
under which Defendants agreed to pay her $16 per hour to
perform various tasks for the business. For a total of four
weeks Ms. Vanderbilt opened and closed the business Monday
through Saturday (working 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and worked
nights taking calls from customers and handling other tasks
for Jeffrey Peer individually and for BBE. She testified:
"Basically, I ran everything." The Court finds
based on Plaintiffs testimony that for those four weeks, Ms.
Vanderbilt worked 63 hours per week, rather than 40 hours per
week. Twenty-three hours of overtime over four weeks totals
$2, 208.00.[2] The Court also finds that Plaintiff is
entitled to an equivalent amount of liquidated damages under
the FLSA where Defendants' actions in failing to pay
overtime were intentional. Therefore, in total, Defendants
jointly and severally owe $4, 416.00 for
unpaid overtime violations.

As for
Plaintiffs claim for breach of contract against BBE, based on
the uncontradicted testimony, the Court determines there was
in fact a second contract between Valerie Vanderbilt and BBE
entered into about four weeks after the initial contract.
Specifically, on an evening in mid-November 2017, Valerie
Vanderbilt, Gregory Knippel, and Jeffrey Peer were all
present at Ms. Vanderbilt and Mr. Knippel's residence in
Big Pine Key, and had a conversation wherein Mr. Peer (acting
on behalf of BBE) offered Ms. Vanderbilt a new contract of
$1, 000 per month plus 7% of BBE's yearly gross revenue
(less the costs of labor and materials), and she verbally
accepted the offer. According to testimony, 7% of gross
revenue portion of the agreement was memorialized on a piece
of paper signed by both Ms. Vanderiblt and Mr. Peer. They
then proceeded to "whiteboard" how they could grow
the company following Hurricane Irma, which had hit the area
in September 2017. The Court finds that Ms. Vanderbilt
continued to perform under the second contract until she was
terminated in mid-October 2018. Her termination consisted of
a woman appearing at her office (who, Ms. Vanderbilt
testified, she eventually realized she had seen with Mr. Peer
as his friend or acquaintance) and demanding her files,
laptop, and keys to the company car. The Court finds that the
written contract entitling Ms. Vanderbilt to 7% of gross
revenue (minus labor and materials) was confiscated along
with Ms. Vanderbilt's other work materials. At the
hearing, Ms. Vanderbilt testified that BBE's gross
revenue for the year was "right in the neighborhood of
$650, 000" (she testified that she "did all the
Quickbooks, every day"), but she was unable to proffer
any evidence in support of the cost of labor and materials
beyond her own salary of $1, 000 per month for 2018. As the
Court ruled at the hearing, this is simply insufficiently
precise to support a damages award for Plaintiffs breach of
contract claim.

Regarding
Plaintiffs claim for fraudulent filing of tax return pursuant
to 26 U.S.C. § 7434 against both Defendants, Ms.
Vanderbilt testified that, after consulting a personal
acquaintance who is a "CPA," she told Mr. Peer
twice in the same week that she should be classified as an
employee and not an independent contractor. She testified
that in 2019, she nevertheless received through U.S. Mail an
IRS Form 1099-MISC for the 2018 fiscal year. Plaintiff
submitted this document as Exhibit 3, and it indeed lists
that Boat Bottom Express LLC paid Valerie Vanderbilt
"nonemployee compensation" of $48, 684.63 for 2018.
Plaintiff argues that this evidences Defendants unlawfully
giving false information to the IRS indicating that she was
an independent contractor, when in fact she was an employee
pursuant to the $1, 000 per month verbal contract discussed
above. Ms. Vanderbilt testified that she was not involved in
the furnishing of the Form 1099 at issue, and did not send it
to the IRS, as she was no longer working for BBE at that
point. The Court finds that Defendant BBE (listed on the form
as "PAYER") furnished the document at issue to the
IRS, and as such, Defendant BBE is liable to Plaintiff for
S5, 000.00 in statutory damages pursuant to
26 U.S.C. § 7434.

Therefore,
based on the uncontradicted, defaulted testimony, the damages
in this case are $4, 416.00 against both
Defendants jointly and severally, and $5,
000.00 against Defendant Boat Bottom Express Limited
Liability Company.

The
Court further finds that the fees and costs requested by
Plaintiff and supported by the declarations of counsel in
Exhibit 4, totaling $7, 550.25 in attorney's fees and
$593.12 in taxable costs, are reasonable. At the hearing
Plaintiffs counsel Jordan Richards requested an additional
two billable hours at his rate of $350 per hour for his
argument that day, and the Court found this reasonable.
Therefore, Plaintiff is due to be awarded a total of
$8, 843.35 in fees and costs.

DONE
and ORDERED in chambers at the James
Lawrence King Federal Justice Building and United States
Courthouse, Miami, Florida, this 24th day of July, 2019.

---------

Notes:

[1] This Order memorializes findings of
fact and conclusions of law that the Court articulated at the
June 22, 2019 hearing.

Our website includes the first part of the main text of the court's opinion.
To read the entire case, you must purchase the decision for download. With purchase,
you also receive any available docket numbers, case citations or footnotes, dissents
and concurrences that accompany the decision.
Docket numbers and/or citations allow you to research a case further or to use a case in a
legal proceeding. Footnotes (if any) include details of the court's decision. If the document contains a simple affirmation or denial without discussion,
there may not be additional text.

Buy This Entire Record For
$7.95

Download the entire decision to receive the complete text, official citation,
docket number, dissents and concurrences, and footnotes for this case.